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| | == Marriage and family life == | | == Marriage and family life == |
| | Nathaniel Hawthorne had a life-long marriage, with three children. There is a dispute among historians as to whether his marriage was a happy one. | | Nathaniel Hawthorne had a life-long marriage, with three children. There is a dispute among historians as to whether his marriage was a happy one. |
| | + | |
| | + | == Burial == |
| | + | |
| | + | The funeral and burial of Hawthorne was itself a notable event: |
| | + | {{cquote|Emerson, that day, stood beside the grave, and with him Longfellow and Lowell were present; Agassiz, Holmes, James Freeman Clarke, Edwin Whipple, Pierce, and Hillard, had all assembled to pay their last reverence. A great multitude of people attended the funeral service at the old Unitarian First Church in the village, and Mr. Clarke, who had performed the marriage ceremony for Hawthorne, conducted the rites above him dead.<ref name="G">https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/40529/pg40529-images.html</ref>}} |
| | + | |
| | + | Longfellow later penned a remarkable requiem-like poem about the moment:<ref name="G"/> |
| | + | {{cquote|How beautiful it was, that one bright day |
| | + | In the long week of rain! |
| | + | :Though all its splendor could not chase away |
| | + | ::The omnipresent pain. |
| | + | "The lovely town was white with apple-blooms, |
| | + | And the great elms o'erhead |
| | + | Dark shadows wove on their aerial looms, |
| | + | Shot through with golden thread. |
| | + | "Across the meadows, by the gray old manse, |
| | + | The historic river flowed; |
| | + | I was as one who wanders in a trance, |
| | + | Unconscious of his road. |
| | + | "The faces of familiar friends seemed strange; |
| | + | Their voices I could hear, |
| | + | And yet the words they uttered seemed to change |
| | + | Their meaning to the ear. |
| | + | "For the one face I looked for was not there, |
| | + | The one low voice was mute; |
| | + | Only an unseen presence filled the air, |
| | + | And baffled my pursuit. |
| | + | "Now I look back, and meadow, manse, and stream |
| | + | Dimly my thought defines; |
| | + | I only see—a dream within a dream— |
| | + | The hill-top hearsed with pines. |
| | + | "I only hear above his place of rest |
| | + | Their tender undertone, |
| | + | The infinite longings of a troubled breast, |
| | + | The voice so like his own. |
| | + | "There in seclusion and remote from men |
| | + | The wizard hand lies cold, |
| | + | Which at its topmost speed let fall the pen, |
| | + | And left the tale half told.553 |
| | + | "Ah, who shall lift that wand of magic power, |
| | + | And the lost clue regain? |
| | + | The unfinished window in Aladdin's tower |
| | + | Unfinished must remain!" |
| | | | |
| | == Quotes == | | == Quotes == |